6th Annual FlyFishingNewEngland.net Fly Swap

-- 6th Annual FFNE Fly Swap --

It's hard to believe we've been doing this fly swap for 6 years now. I've posted about the 1st, 2nd and 3rd FlyFishingNewEngland.net fly swaps. With a record turnout and the high quality flies submitted, this 6th annual event warranted a post from the "occasional blogger".
This year was the biggest with 15 tiers and 18 total in attendance at our host's (Chris M.) house. We also had friends, wives and significant others join us for the festivities. Several tiers submitted multiple flies (Matt B. submitted 5!) so we had a total of 23 flies for each tier to take home.

2018 Fly Fishing New England Swap

Several Wives, Friend and Significant Others joined the festivities

We did not pick a tying theme this year which resulted with a good balance of salt and freshwater flies. Two new tiers joined the swap this year -- the other Chris M. (a non-forum member) and John of Ocean Flies USA in Florida. Three tiers (Matt W., John and Tyler) were with us in spirit but too far away to attend.

Shakeyfly divvying up the goods

I'm always impressed with the tying talent the group brings out every year. From size 26 to 4/0, once again, the flies were stellar this year.

Piles of Flies

In no particular order, here's are the flies along with the forum member's name.

1) Ryan (Shakeyfly)

Shakeyfly's Epoxy Spoon Fly

2) Jon (non-forum)

Jon's Size 26 Swift Midge

3) Chris (non-forum)

Chris' Parachute Royal Wulff

4) Matt B. (Matt B.)

Matt's Assabet Damsel

Matt's Greenie

Matt's Summer Moth

Matt's Goat's Toe

Matt's Goat's Toe II

5) Chris (Chris M)

Chris M's Squid

6) Paul (pcuzzupe)

pcuzzupe Bullet Head Bunny

7) Joebe (joebe)

Jeobe's X-Caddis

8) Dean (ginclear)

Ginclear's Olive Slumpbuster

Ginclear's Tutti Frutti Hollow Fleye

9) Matt W. (TroutDoors)

Troutdoor's Golden and Pheasant Tail Microstones (a Vince Wilcox design)

10) Jeff (JeffSkilz)

JeffSkilz (Mehrnaz) Braided Baitfish 

11) John (Flatsguy)

Flatsguy's Synthetic Deciever

12) Dennis (fishtaco)

Fishtaco's Baked Brookie

13) Alan (alcorb)

Alcorb's Palsy Perch and Sandeel Fishair Streamer

14) Tyler (trico22)

Trico22's Beadhead Nymph

15) Jeff (jeffsod)

Jeffsod's Black Flashdancer

An unidentified tier's Partridge & Orange

And last but not least, giving new meaning to throwing an entire chicken and what every fly angler loves to throw, tied with love by our forum leader, the classic chicken fly.

Sized to match the FlyFishingNewEngland.net angler on our custom wood platter - Shakeyfly's Whole Chicken

We gather yearly to socialize, swap flies and stories of the past fishing season, and plan for the season to come. We enjoy each other's company and share good food and drink. This year was no exception.

As with past swaps, I cook up a batch of bacon wrapped jalapenos (BJW) to bring to the party. The recipe has evolved over the years and will continue to do so. This year, I kept it simple. After halving and cleaning the jalapenos, they are stuffed with a mixture of ground pork, bread crumbs, cayenne & red pepper powder bound together with an egg and then each wrapped with a 1/3 of a slice of bacon. The BWJs are placed on a cooling rack over a foil lined cookie sheet then each BJW is pierced in a couple places to allow the fat to drain while cooking. Cook at 425 until the bacon is crisp.

Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos - A FFNE Fly Swap Tradition

As it turns out, the BJWs where not the only thing in the oven hours before the fly swap.

Chicken wings or some last minute epoxy curing?

Another swap in the books, we're on to 7th Annual FFNE Fly Swap